Vizquel's triple helps lift Indians



Cleveland beat K.C. for the fifth time in 10 days.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Omar Vizquel led off the 11th inning with a triple and scored on Matt Lawton's sacrifice fly to give the Cleveland Indians a 7-6 victory over the Kansas City Royals Friday night.
Vizquel, hitless in his first five at-bats, blooped a 1-1 pitch from Scott Sullivan (3-4) just inside the line in short right field, extending his hitting streak to 12 games. He slid home on Lawton's sacrifice fly but easily beat the throw.
Rafael Betancourt (4-4) pitched perfect 10th and 11th innings for the win after the Indians blew a 5-0 lead in the fourth inning.
Cleveland went up 6-5 on pitcher Dennys Reyes' throwing error in the eighth inning, but the Royals tied it at 6 on Mike Sweeney's two-out double down the left-field line in the ninth.
First blown save
Sweeney's hit off Bob Wickman scored David DeJesus, who doubled with one out and went to third on a passed ball. It was Wickman's first blown save in two chances.
Joe Randa, who walked with two out, tried to score from first on the double but was thrown out at the plate by shortstop Vizquel's relay from left fielder Coco Crisp.
Ronnie Belliard hit three doubles for the Indians, who won for the seventh time in eight games and have beaten Kansas City five times in the last 10 days.
Matt Stairs homered and drove in four runs for the Royals, whose eighth-straight loss matched a season high.
Reyes retired the first five batters he faced, striking out the side in the seventh inning, before Crisp singled with two out in the eighth and then stole second. Grady Sizemore followed with a dribbler that he beat out for an infield single, and Reyes' throw in the dirt allowed the speedy Crisp to score.
Belliard went 3-for-5, matched a career high with his doubles, and scored a run. But he also flied out to right with the bases loaded to end the 10th.
That wasn't the Indians' only wasted opportunity in the inning. With the bases loaded and one out, Casey Blake tried to score on Jaime Cerda's pitch in the dirt. But catcher John Buck, a 10th-inning defensive replacement, tracked the ball down and flipped to Cerda for the tag at the plate.
Royals starter Brian Anderson was shelled for five runs and eight hits in 22/3 innings, but the Royals' three-run rally in the fifth kept him from tying a franchise record with his 10th straight loss.
After Stairs' two-run homer in the fourth got the Royals within 5-2, Alberto Castillo led off the bottom of the fifth with a double. DeJesus singled, and Castillo scored when starter Jake Westbrook threw the ball away trying to pick DeJesus off first.
Costly error
With two outs and one on, Sweeney's hard grounder went between Blake's legs at third for a two-base error. Stairs followed with a two-run double to the gap in right center, tying the score at 5.
Cleveland went up 1-0 in the second on Travis Hafner's RBI double, then scored four times in the third on RBI singles by Victor Martinez, Blake, Lou Merloni and Crisp.
Westbrook gave up six hits in five innings, striking out two and walking two before Rick White relieved him to start the sixth. Westbrook's ERA, second-best in the AL, went from 3.10 to 3.18.
Notes
Kansas City scored more runs Friday night than in its previous four games combined. The Royals had four runs over that span. ... Merloni strained his right quadriceps running the bases after his third-inning single. He left the game and was day-to-day. ... The Royals traded INF Jose Bautista to the New York Mets and recalled RHP D.J. Carrasco from Triple-A Omaha before Friday night's game. Kansas City got minor-league C Justin Huber in exchange for Bautista and assigned him to Omaha. Bautista was traded to Pittsburgh later in the day.
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